Never Alone (Day of Pentecost)

Today is Pentecost, the last Sunday of Eastertide before we transition to Trinitytide. As we experienced in our Acts reading this transition is marked by the coming of the Holy Spirit following the ascension of Jesus and the Spirit’s coming puts in motion the “last days” or “end times.”

That’s right! Pentecost is an eschatological day and the first followers of Jesus believed that they were living in the “last days.” God’s kingdom has broken into our world and it continues to do so through us, his followers.

Next Sunday we enter Ordinary Time or Trinitytide and Rick will help us more then to realize that how we define ordinary and how God defines it are two very different things!

For today, we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit, our comforter, and God’s very presence with us at all times and in all places.

Would you pray with me?

When We Are Alone

Have you ever felt alone?

Many years ago when we were serving as missionaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, my wife and a colleague wanted to go to le grand marché or “the big market” to look for fabric.

Things started out badly right away. After getting out of the car, someone tried to steal from Joyce’s pouch that was hanging around her neck at chest level. As we headed to the busy streets to find the fabric shops, I was on high alert.

I quickly noticed that there was an organized “gang” as we approached the intersection. I made eye contact with multiple people spread over the four corners of the intersection that was thronging with people and watched them converge on us.

People attempted to distract us by standing in front of us with a bag held low while banging it, or they’d bump into us, or overcrowd us.

At one point, my wallet was halfway out of my deep front pocket which was covered by a low hanging Congolese style shirt. I banged the guy’s wrist hard and fortunately it stayed in my pocket. We made a beeline for the nearest shop and we ducked in it to regroup.

Have you ever felt alone?

In those moments, I was panicked while trying to keep a straight face. I was running away from there with all my might while trying to walk normally. I was looking for anyone who might be able to rescue us and no one was in sight. I was terrified in the face of a group of young people who had no concern for our wellbeing. I was also assessing just how far I’d go to protect my wife, colleague, and myself while imagining what possible consequences my result.

I was desperate and anyone not in my shoes would have said, “Oh, you’re just overreacting. Things will be fine.”

Aren’t we a lot like this with one another?

This experience taught me that feeling alone does not have much to do with proximity to other humans. We were surrounded by humans!

Rather, aloneness is primarily relational.

It also taught me that when someone is backed in a corner and desperate, one is willing to do desperate things to survive, not necessarily because they are deeply evil. In many ways, our assailants were as desperate as we were, only in different ways and for different reasons.

Aren’t we a lot like this with one another? Living among one another, feeling alone, as we externally make it look like we are doing just fine? Don’t we also go to desperate lengths when we are alone?

Have you ever felt alone or abandoned?

The good news this morning, Wilmore Anglican, is that God is with us in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Our texts this morning give us a bird’s eye view over thousands of years of history. Each of these texts are connected by the theme of aloneness and God’s presence.

Ziggurats as a Cry of Loneliness

I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom

Let that sink in.

tells us that during the 40 days that the resurrected Jesus appeared to his followers, he spoke about the kingdom of God.

Then, Jesus tells them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. Rightly, the disciples wonder in

I might be the first person you hear say this, but the folks who built the Tower of Babel really get a bad rap. Before you write me off, hear me out...

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Note that Jesus does not say “no” or “you foolish disciples, don’t know the Gentile church is replacing you?!?” Rather, he tells them that they will be empowered to testify on behalf of Jesus to the world.

“Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

The usual explanation of the Tower of Babel is that humans were trying to reach God. But this profoundly misunderstands the purpose of the tower and the phrase

Next Sunday we enter Ordinary Time or Trinitytide and Rick will help us more then to realize that what how we define ordinary and how God defines it are two very different things!

a tower with its top in the heavens

For today, we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit, our comforter, and God’s very presence with us at all times and in all places.

Would you pray with me?

On the screen is a photo of the partially reconstructed remains of a tower like the one built at Babel. There are around 30 archaeological remains of these towers called Ziggurats.

In the infographic, you can see that the estimated height of the Tower of Babel reached 300 ft. The tallest load bearing brick structure of modern times, the Monadnock building in Chicago, reached roughly 200 ft.

So, what do we know about these towers?

The purpose of these towers were not to reach heaven. Rather, they served as a support structure for a stairway between heaven and earth. In fact, other than the small room that included some food, these towers were completely solid. Their basic purpose was to invite the deity down to visit the people and bless their lives.

These towers were dedicated to a particular deity and nearly every occurrence of the phrase, “a tower with its top in the heavens,” is associated in Mesopotamian literature with the ziggurat.

Friends, the builders of these ziggurats were looking for God’s presence and blessing. These towers were architectural cries of loneliness and attempts to procure a good and safe life.

Be that as it may, no matter how desperate or lonely we are, taking things into our own hands will never bring us fulfillment

The Lord was clearly not pleased with the tower, and as our Genesis reading explains, God confounds their single language into many. It was an artificial attempt at presence at best.

Note that the Tower of Babel was named Babel after the confusion of the languages! They were not just confused in language, but they were confused in the way they sought God’s presence and blessing.

We too are often like the tower builders. We don’t experience God’s presence or the presence of our loved ones, so we turn to fabricated substitutes. We build our own architectural cries of loneliness.

What is your ziggurat this morning?

The good news this morning, Wilmore Anglican, is that God is with us in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We do not need our ziggurats anymore!

No More Alone

Like last week, our Gospel reading (, ) again comes from the Farewell discourse.

Judas has just left to betray Jesus

Jesus predicts Peter’s denial

He also tells his disciples that he’s leaving!

His followers are distraught.

opens with Jesus telling his disciples

do not let your hearts be troubled

and our reading closes with the same.

Why? Although Jesus my be physically distant from them, he is relationally close to his followers through the Spirit whom he sends.

In our Acts passage (), we find recorded the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise. But again, at the beginning of Acts,

Jesus ascends to heaven and is gone

The disciples are wondering about the restored kingdom of Israel

Judas’s betrayal is brought back up again

In the midst of this rocky situation, the Spirit suddenly appears. The comforter has arrived!

As Luke explains the scene, Jews from all over the world are in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Weeks (). In Greek, this festival is called Pentecost, meaning “fiftieth,” because it occured 50 days after Passover.

While there is more to say about this than I have time now, many have noted the connection between the table of nations in and Luke’s description of the nations present in Jerusalem.

Additionally, whereas God scattered people by language in , he reaches his people through those languages. Unity and the presence of God are now available in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The mission to non-Jews has not yet started, or at least is not on anyone’s mind just yet.

But don’t miss this. What Jesus promised to his faltering disciples in , is now fulfilled. While some offer a human explanation for the curious phenomenon of Galilean Jews speaking all these different languages, Peter locates the explanation in the Prophet Joel.

The full and equal presence of God is available to all who call on the name of the Lord.

The good news this morning, Wilmore Anglican, is that God is with us in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are no longer alone. Will you leave your Tower of Babel and call upon his name this morning?

How Do We Experience the Spirit’s Presence?

In closing, just how do we experience the spirit’s presence.

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